Has anyone gotten good sound out of a MII w/ not HU?

Hey,
I'm going directly from the VIA MII audio output to my factory amps RCA input. Right now it sounds pretty bad, It has no bass response and it's really loud, sometimes even distorted. I have to set the volume at about 10% and it's still pretty loud.

I would really like to use the onboard sound to save power and space. If i buy one of those cheap ebay car equalizers could i get a decent sound or should i just get a PCI audio card? I dont think i want to go USB since my M1-ATX PSU can't handle much.I was also thinking about a PCMCIA Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS, since i'm not using my PCMCIA slot.

I am using the MII onboard sound. It sounds pretty good connected to my aftermarket amplifier. It's not going to win any competitions but it's certainly not horrible, and I don't have the problems you have either. For comparison it's *much* better than the factory MP3 unit, using the same speakers.

The Audigy 2 ZS is a good option through really you need an expensive sound system to make best use of it, I would only get one once I'd upgraded everything factory and wanted to get head-unit thrashing sound out of it.